Guideline for Distance Learning
Courses
Diretrizes para Concepção de Cursos em EAD
Pautas para el Diseño de cursos de educación a distancia
Andreza Regina Lopes da Silva1, Juliana Bordinhão Diana1,1 Fernando José
Spanhol2
Abstract
Th is paper aims to identify the Management students’ choice motiva-tions and their subareas in distance learning. Th e survey was collected from a structured questionnaire from students already enrolled in the management courses, from bachelor and technologist programs, with 1953 answers from all over Brazil. Th e collected data received quantitative treatment, being the main techniques, Descriptive Statistics, Multivariate Analysis and Exploratory Factor Analysis. Th e result of the analysis point-ed as main motivations the personal vocation (career) and fi nancial moti-vations, as much of the distance learning modality as in comparison with other courses like the Engineering. It was possible to verify the existence of interest on the part of these Management students to continue studies with emphasis in the exact and engineering courses in the future, as an-other undergraduate and postgraduate in the distance learning modality.
Keywords: Distance education. Management. Engineering.
Baccalaureate and technologist.
1 Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina – Florianópolis – SC – Brasil 2 Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina – Araranguá – SC – Brasil
Resumo
O objetivo deste artigo é apresentar diretrizes para a concepção de cursos a serem ofertados em Educação a Distância de modo que con-tribuam com o desenvolvimento de competências do aprendiz. Como procedimento metodológico, trabalhou-se com abordagem explorató-rio-descritiva e análise qualitativa dos dados. Para a coleta dos dados, considerou-se a combinação do método indutivo e da abordagem feno-menológica, que teve como base a orientação teórico-prática advinda dos autores, emergentes de uma década de acompanhamento e parti cipação em projetos públicos e privados e de pesquisas na área. Como resulta-do, identifi caram-se dimensões fundamentais a serem contem pladas por instituições que buscam desenvolver recursos educacionais diversos a se-rem utilizados para ofertas de cursos na modalidade a dis tância. Este tra-balho se inicia pela delimitação do projeto instrucional e deve se esten-der a partir da gestão do conhecimento e mapeamento de boas práticas desenvolvidas no contexto institucional. Nesse sentido, um dos grandes desafi os de conceber cursos na modalidade a distância está no trabalho interdisciplinar realizado por uma equipe multidisci plinar que se deixa desafi ar pela visão sistêmica do projeto.
Palavras-chave: Educação a distância. Recursos educacionais.
Planejamento. Gestão.
Resumen
El objetivo de este artículo es presentar pautas para el diseño de cur-sos que se ofrecerán en educación a distancia para que contribuyan al desarrollo de las competencias de los alumnos. Como procedimiento metodológico, trabajamos con un enfoque exploratorio descriptivo y un análisis de datos cualitativos. Para la recopilación de datos, consi-deramos la combinación del método inductivo y el enfoque fenome-nológico, que se basó en la orientación teórico-práctica proveniente de los autores, que surgió de una década de monitoreo y participación y proyectos públicos e privados e investigación en el área. Como resulta-do, identifi camos dimensiones fundamentales que deben contemplar las instituciones que buscan desarrollar diversos recursos educativos
para ofrecer cursos de educación a distancia. Se infi ere que este trabajo comienza con la delimitación del proyecto de instrucción y debe exten-derse desde la gestión del conocimiento y el mapeo de buenas prácticas desarrolladas en el contexto institucional. En este sentido, uno de los grandes desafíos de diseñar cursos de aprendizaje a distancia es el tra-bajo interdisciplinario realizado por un equipo multidisciplinario que se ve desafi ado por la visión sistémica del proyecto.
Palabras clave: Educación a distancia. Recursos educativos.
Planifi cación. Gestión.
1. Introduction
D
istance Education (DE) has become frequent in the educational sce-nario, from the evolution and intensive use of digital information and communication technologies and media, expanding more intensely in the 21st century, when it assumed the force of public policy. Since then, the incentive for the development of educational resources that contribu-te to the construction of knowledge and, consequently, the development of competence, has been the subject of attention for those who promote courses in this modality. Th is care is highlighted in diff erent surveys that address the quality of distance courses off ered, as, in this environment, educational resources stand out as relevant artifacts in the mediation of knowledge, since for many of the students, learning occurs through dia-logue simulated by the educational resources made available.In this sense, the objective of this article is to present guidelines for the design of distance learning courses in order to contemplate a pro-posal for the development of technical and pedagogical skills of the apprentice. Th erefore, an exploratory-descriptive approach was started to understand the complexity of the elements integrated in the design of educational courses for distance learning, which allowed the descrip-tion of the development aspects of an instrucdescrip-tional project for a new distance education course (MARCONI ; LAKATOS, 2010). Th en, we worked with multiple cases, based on technical and informational re-cords resulting from the participation of authors in distance education projects in the area of production of educational resources, developed
between 2011 and 2017, in public and private Brazilian institutions, from the perspective of formal and informal education. Th is work refers to the perception of the phenomenological approach, because, as stated by Dartigues (1992, p. 79), this allows “researchers to highlight their ex-perience, that is, to highlight phenomena in the world in which we live, act, make projects”. For the organization and analysis of the data, we worked with the concept of central idea, defi ned by Lefevre and Lefevre (2012, p. 76) as “linguistic expression that reveals and describes in the most synthetic and precise possible sense [.. .] of the analyzed speech ”.
Th e analysis of the results followed the qualitative approach in order to recognize the phenomena of the study in depth. In a complemen-tary way, the method defi ned for this research, of a theoretical-practical nature, was inductive, since it allowed the authors to propose the gui-delines as a phenomenon for the design of a distance education cour-se. Th e entire induction process followed the structure of Marconi and Lakatos (2010), organized in three stages: observation of the pheno-menon; discovery of the relationship between them; generalization of the relationship.
Th is organization was worked with fl uidity, integrating the theoreti-cal discussion, which is presented in section 2 of this study, integrated with the observation and the practical experience of the authors in the area, which add up to a walk of more than a decade in the context, as presented in section 3. Th e discussion continues with the presentation of the fi nal considerations, in section 4, and continues in the bibliogra-phic references, used as a theoretical basis for this conception.
In view of the discussion, the relevance and originality of the result presented and constructed from the improvement, through the collec-tion of the area, in relacollec-tion to the practice of this universe is highlighted. In view of this reality, each educational institution has been developing its own guidelines, in “the perspective of promoting the alignment of the preparation of these materials with the peculiarities of this moda-lity” (SOUSA, 2018, p. 2). Th ese authors, as well as Silva (2013, 2017) and Brasil (2007), also reinforce concerns in the area by highlighting that when planning the production of the didactic resource for distance education, it is necessary to take into consideration “the relationship
between the number of pages and hours of study ”(SOUSA, 2018, p. 40). In this gap, expressed in bibliographies and documents specialized in the area, they highlight the importance of the discussion. Th us, it appears that this study directly contributes to researchers in the area and to professionals interested in or already involved in the process - for example, a multidisciplinary team and managers who want to expand their practice with regard to the design of quality educational resour-ces. Th inking about Education is a big challenge. Planning Distance Education is a double challenge. And elaborating educational resources is even more challenging, as it implies preparing materials in line with the pedagogical objective, meeting the needs of diff erent audiences. Th erefore, when discussing a theoretical trail combined with an em-pirical trail, the authors, together with the vast experience in the area, show the essential guidelines when the subject is “designing a distance education course”.
2. Theoretical track
Educational resources in distance education assume a prominent role in the teaching-learning process, in which learning is largely au-tonomous and individuals need to be highly motivated, independent, autonomous and proactive. As Litto (2010) points out, it is wrong to imagine that studying distance is easier than in person. In this sense, when planning a course in distance learning, one should not imagine that such practice is limited to transposing the existing content in the classroom to distance education. Among other tasks, it implies making the appropriate use of available technologies in line with the objecti-ves of teaching and learning, a challenge that requires the participation of a multidisciplinary team that looks to it for the best result under interdisciplinary practice.
Th us, educational resources are understood as the set of strategies to facilitate learning (MASETTO, 2015). Seeking to conceptualize in general, Filatro and Cairo (2015) bring the educational resource as a fl uid and didactic element that, interspersed by a clear structure, regar-dless of whether it is axial or networked, allows the student to identify where it starts, where it ends and, mainly, which competence should
be developed. When dealing with educational resources for distance education courses, it is necessary to decide on the set of provisions that favor the teaching-learning process (MASETTO, 2015). Th e author explains that the variation of resources favors the development of the most diverse points of view of the student, which is considered funda-mental for meaningful learning, that is, that process of construction of knowledge that “involves the acquisition of new meanings” from of pre-existing (AUSUBEL; NOVAK; HANESIAN; 1980, p. 34).
Th e development of educational resources for distance education should involve diff erent aspects that can be contemplated with the de-sign of the instructional project of the course, with the description of elements such as: defi nition of target audience, teaching and learning objective, course load and disciplines, course structure, types of media and assessments to be developed, among other elements that need to be in line with the pedagogical project of the course, so that the necessary skills are developed respecting the expected workload.
Silva (2017) elucidates that the instructional project can be un-derstood as a fi rst structured document of the course proposal, and for that purpose it must contemplate questions related to: learning need, teaching objectives and description of possible limitations, such as the course off er being for a public whose internet access is limited. Romiszowski and Romiszowski (1998) defi ne the instructional pro-ject as a relevant element in the design of the teaching-learning system and all its operational aspects to be acquired or developed - as didactic material. Th erefore, it is highlighted that an educational resource can only be considered of quality and relevant when it is organized and pro-grammed (AUSUBEL, 2000). Silva (2013; 2017) corroborates that the quality of the educational resource is related to its potential to allow the construction of knowledge; for this, it must have form, content, langua-ge and activities planned based on the student's profi le, the course pro-posal and the skills to be developed. Cairo and Filatro (2015) warn that thinking about an instructional project is thinking about “the scope and limitations of the educational solution itself”. Th us, it is understood that to plan a quality distance education course is to predict the congruence of elements such as form, content, language and activity. Consequently,
this delivery will only be possible if the multidisciplinary team invol-ved considers this perspective as the essence for the delivery of any quality educational solution. According to the Quality Framework for Distance Education, it is also important that an educational resource is developed, the general guide of the course, a material that is able to guide the student about the teaching-learning characteristics, as well as their rights and responsibilities during the course (BRASIL, 2007). Th is orientation imposes the need to pay attention to the provision of planned didactic elements in order to enhance the interaction between the diff erent actors involved in the project, in order to ensure the rights of enrolled students (BRASIL, 2007; 2017).
In order to attend to these aspects, it is evident that the educatio-nal resources must adhere to the teaching-learning objective and to the pedagogical conception of the course, which requires the interaction of diff erent actors and the diff erent phases of its conception and de-velopment, so that in the end, resources are used as a unit of know-ledge without being limited to simply being a means of transmitting information. In this way, the eff ective development of competences re-quires distance education from systemic planning, taking into accou-nt the institutional structure, the media and iaccou-nteraction system as well as the political and administrative system that guides the institution (GUIMARÃES; CARVALHO, 2015). In addition, it is necessary to con-sider some specifi c characteristics of the modality, such as: geographi-cal and temporal distance; communication made fl exible by digital te-chnologies and student autonomy.
Moran (2010) points out that there are two models for planning a distance education course. Communication can occur based on the tra-ditional participation of the teacher, appearing in a video lesson or re-corded class, a practice that can be added to the integration of readings and activities or through educational resources, printed or digital, writ-ten in a dialogical way. In this sense, it is highlighted that, despite the various digital communication resources available today, the textbook still plays a fundamental role as a facilitator of learning in teaching ba-sed on autonomy (SILVA, 2013). However, Mattar (2014, p. 109) states that the multimedia principle is the most recommended, considering
that “people learn more deeply” with the combination of “words and visual resources”.
At this threshold, in the planning phase of the distance education course, the conception of educational resources can be understood as an element of order, and some factors will infl uence the good perfor-mance of the course: planning based on the student's profi le; develo-pment from the experience and knowledge of the multidisciplinary team; skills for writing content; choice of appropriate technology; mo-nitoring and evaluation of the developed proposal (GUIMARÃES; CARVALHO, 2015). Mattar (2014) suggests that, in order to meet these challenges, some precautions, such as collecting updated data on the topic and the target audience, using images and analyzing the amount of information, can contribute to the way in which knowledge is repre-sented to promote learning.
Th is whole discussion is highlighted by Silva (2017) as an emerging need in the knowledge society, which is characterized by a network connection and continuous transformation. Th erefore, to plan a quality distance education course, it is not enough to have experience with fa-ce-to-face courses. Th e experience can facilitate some perceptions, such as the relevance of dialogue, the integration of theory and practice and the use of diff erent resources, but the work of a multidisciplinary team will guarantee the quality of the production of these resources, given the singularities of the modality. It is necessary to understand distance education based on “careful planning, systemic work and the involve-ment of a multidisciplinary team” promoting an interdisciplinary per-formance of the entire team involved in the process (GUIMARÃES; CARVALHO, 2015, p. 6; SILVA; SPANHOL, 2018).
3. Empirical trail
Th e vision of systemic planning in distance education is an extre-mely important component when it comes to off ering a quality course that enhances the development of the learner's skills. Th at is, planning is one of the main elements related to the success of a course. In this sense, it is necessary to know and analyze the learning needs and, from
the identifi cation of the course objective, it becomes a relevant exercise to be adopted as a fi rst step, and it must be described in the organi-zation that presents the essential elements of an instructional project. Chart 1, elaborated from the concatenation of the theoretical and em-pirical analysis experienced by the authors, presents the elements and information necessary for the construction of the instructional project. Chart 1: Essential elements of an instructional project
Elements Necessary information
Course What is the central theme of the course?What is the name of the course? Introduction What is the course development context? objective What is the objective of training the course? Target Audience Who are the possible students of this demand? Bibliography What is the basic bibliography needed to meet the objective of the course? Methodology
What will be the procedures used to promote teaching and learning? For example: will you have tutoring or is it self-instructional?
Materials What educational resources will be used? Examples: video, digital book, narrative?
Course structure What is the didactic-pedagogical organization? For example, will it be organized into modules divided by theme?
Evaluation Is there an evaluation forecast? If so: will it be in person or online? Per module?
Workload What is the number of hours needed to complete the course? For example: four modules, each module 10 hours -> total: 40 hours.
Certifi cation Will a certifi cate of achievement be issued? Will there be a certifi cate of participation in the virtual environment?
Production modeling
Is there a team allocated to this demand?
Will educational resources be developed in partnership with another institution?
Th is organization, which presents thirteen elements defi ned as gui-delines for the planning of an instructional project, is part of an analysis of the central ideas identifi ed in the reports and in the record of parti-cipation of the authors in several projects of off ers in the distance mo-dality at national level. It is recognized that for an eff ective organization of these elements, the participation of a multidisciplinary team with ex-perience and knowledge in off ering courses in this modality is essential. Th us, it appears that designing quality courses in distance education is a process that requires an interdisciplinary practice - and not disciplinary or modular of isolated interests.
Th e uniqueness of a distance learning course off er directly aff ects the time needed and the essential elements of the elaboration of educa-tional resources, so that they do not act as transmitters of information, but as builders and modelers of knowledge, directly refl ecting on the training competencies, whether individual or organizational.
In a complementary way, it is emphasized that it is important to go further and consider the development of a reference standard for the volume of educational resources to be made available to the student. Th erefore, the organization presented is extremely relevant, especially for beginners in the fi eld of producing a distance learning course, sin-ce the theory does not yet have a discussion in this regard. Th erefore, based on the authors' experience and good practices, Chart 2 describes a reference proposal on how to work with the quantity of educational resources with a view to the quality of training.
Chart 2: Resource elaboration reference educational and workload
Elements References Example
Workload 20 hours 20 class hours Learning units 1 unit for every 10 class hours 2 units
E-book From 2 to 3 pages per hour / class 40 to 60 pages in text editor Screen
presentation
From 3 to 4 screens (slides) per hour
60 to 80 screens in presentation fi le
Video From 3 to 5 minutes, with a maximum of 8 minutes Up to 4 8-minute videos
In this sense, it is inferred that, regardless of the media, the elements cited should guide the process of designing educational resources. It is noticed that the design of educational resources for distance edu-cation courses includes complex and knowledge-intensive activities, as evidenced in the research by Silva (2013; 2017), which consider the need for an interdisciplinary approach from a multidisciplinary team, suggesting at least, a content teacher, educational designer, proofreader, graphic designer, virtual environment programmer, plagiarism analyst to monitor the process; these last two roles can be developed by another professional, such as the educational designer - a junior and a full or senior, for example.
It is also considered that, in order to meet the diff erent processes and activities in the production of educational resources in a systemic, congruent and eff ective way, knowledge related to the estimated time of diff erent activities is important. A reference was organized, based on the authors' records, in Chart 3. It is understood that it can be cus-tomized, when necessary, and adjusted throughout the process, since distance education, in addition to requiring systemic planning, requi-res, given its singularities, fl exible structure. In this meander, to direct the initial planning, the main processes and deadlines to be followed were mapped.
Table 3: Processes and deadlines for the production of educational resources
Processes deadlines
Content development 20 to 30 days for subjects with a workload of 60 hours / class Plagiarism analysis 1 hour for every 20 pages of text Educational Design 4 hours for every 20 pages of text Review 4 hours for every 30 pages of text
Graphic design 4 hours for every 60 pages of text; if there is a need for image treatment, it is suggested to add 1 hour
Scripting
7 days for the production phase and 5 days for editing for every 2 pages of initial content, 8 min forecast. of video Programming the virtual
teaching-learning environment (AVEA) 30 days for organizing a low complexity course (up to 40 hours) Multidisciplinary manager 4 hours / daily for a course of up to 80 hours of medium complexity
It is suggested that the adaptation of these practices to the context of the project can be done eff ectively by an experienced professional in education and management, that is, a multidisciplinary professional, such as an educational designer. Th e use of management soft ware can contribute; however, it is clear that those available on the market do not include such specifi city and need to be customized. Specifi city occurs in the context of processes and activities that do not follow a linear fl ow and need to be considered because they are knowledge intensive. For those who are starting or have specifi c demand for projects, an alter-native is to map and use an electronic data spreadsheet shared with the project team, so that the integration of these steps has been mapped in real time.
Based on the elements so far presented and discussed in the present study, Chart 4, with four specifi c dimensions, with defi ned criteria to guide the study, was organized based on conceptual concepts, quality
reference documents and empirical aspects experienced by the authors, designing a distance learning course that promotes the development of skills.
Table 4: Criteria for designing distance learning courses
Dimensions Criteria Justifi cation
Project
Objective of the course Defi nes the parameters and essential elements to be considered for the elaboration of educational resources, bringing together essential elements to an educational project organized from the predefi ned start and end date. Workload Target Audience Methodology Educational resources
Organization It relates to the content and media that will contribute to teaching and learning, according to the project's objective, in addition to enabling the identifi cation of the eff ective team needed for the project.
Used media
People
Manager
List of the main professionals
involved in the design and elaboration
of educational resources that will be made available to students Content teacher Educational Designer Reviewer Graphic designer Virtual environment programmer Screenwriter Plagiarism Analyst Processes Production fl ow It describes the processes and estimates the deadlines foreseen for the work of the production team, in order to present to the institution a material that is in accordance with what was foreseen in the project, whose greatest challenge is to enhance the construction of the student's knowledge. Deadlines
With this understanding, the theoretical discussion proposed by authors like Guimarães (2015) is evident, which alert to the need to work with a systemic planning when looking for the design of a distan-ce learning course. In this sense, in order to contribute to the theoreti-cal-practical advancement in the area, it is understood that the guide-lines described and systematized in four dimensions favor the design
and development of quality distance education courses with scientifi c rigor, clarity, depth, updating and relevance according to the learning objectives, organized in a fi rst document that can be defi ned as an instructional project.
4. Final considerations
Th e objective of this study was to present guidelines for the design of distance learning courses so that they can meet the proposal for the de-velopment of apprenticeship skills that in distance education, through unique characteristics, assumes the role of protagonist in their training history. Th us, without the intention of defi ning a single model of guide-lines for the design of quality courses, it is possible to defi ne guideguide-lines for those who are starting in the area of planning a course in distance education with a focus on promoting meaningful training or also for those who work in the area and feel the need to review the essential elements for the off er of distance learning courses that are committed to teaching and learning.
Th erefore, it is suggested that studies and publications be expanded in this area of management and development of educational resources, since theory and practice lack directive elements for beginners in the design of distance education courses. It is also suggested to revise the distance education quality framework, since it, despite not having the force of law, is the reference document for this line of work. In addition, the sharing of good practices for the development of quality educatio-nal resources is essential for the provision of quality education, as stu-dies in the area that describe their reality are still relevant.
In view of the discussion, it is inferred that in practice, in view of the need for continuing education arising from the knowledge society, two elements are essential when it comes to developing resources for quality training: teaching objective and training skills. Th ey are pillars that must be considered as minimum elements when talking about the design of a distance education course. Finally, it is inferred that quality courses in distance learning can present diff erent designs in diff erent combinations of resources, processes and people involved; however, the
defi ned criteria are considered references for planning and off ering that look aft er the core of this discussion - "student learning".
References
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HOW TO CITE THIS ARTICLE
ABNT: SILVA, A. R. L. da; DIANA, J. B.; SPANHOL, F. J.Guideline for Distance Learning Courses. Revista Brasileira de Aprendizagem Aberta e a Distância, V19,
n.1.2020. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.17143/ rbaad.v18i1.320
Autor Correspondente
Andreza Regina Lopes da Silva E-mail: andrezalopes.ead@gmail.com
